Unwrapping Beethoven is an intimate musical experience that invites audiences inside the world of Beethoven’s string quartets. Intertwining performance with conversation, the Elouan Quartet explores this extraordinary genre - from its structural brilliance to its emotional depth through a series of musical examples, reflections, and insights from the players themselves.

Rather than a traditional concert, this event weaves together discussion and live performance to illuminate Beethoven’s compositional voice, the evolution of the quartet, and the interpretive decisions that bring this music to life. Along the way, audiences will encounter stories, ideas, and moments of discovery that deepen their connection to the music and offer a fresh perspective on these remarkable works. 

The Elouan Quartet, formed in 2025, comprises New Zealand Symphony Orchestra players with a special love of chamber music and performing in informal and intimate settings.

Violinist Jessica Oddie studied at the Juilliard School, Yale University, and the Yale School of Music. She returned to New Zealand in 2020 when she was engaged as Guest Assistant Concertmaster of the NZSO. She was delighted to join the orchestra as Assistant Principal Second in 2022.  Jessica has recorded albums of chamber music for the Naxos and Tactus recording labels, including the premiere recording of twentieth-century Italian composer Gino Gorini’s chamber works. She has performed in festivals including the Venice Biennale, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival in the US, the Toronto Summer Music Festival, and in Fontainebleau, France. 

Originally from Paeroa, Anna van der Zee is a member of the first violin section of the NZSO. Trained in Wellington, Germany and USA, Anna co-founded the Tasman String Quartet. The quartet ventured to Boulder, Colorado for two years to study under the renowned Takacs Quartet. Alongside her work with the NZSO, Anna runs Karori Classics - a series of monthly chamber music concerts supporting local charities. She plays regularly in chamber music groups with her NZSO colleagues and is a core member of contemporary ensemble Stroma. 

New Zealand violist Alexander McFarlane is Associate Principal Viola with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Equally at home in a solo, chamber or orchestral idiom, he has performed internationally in venues including the Wigmore Hall, the Barbican Hall, the Musikverein in Vienna and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with artists including Steven Isserlis, Janine Jansen, and the Doric String Quartet, and performed at festivals including IMS Prussia Cove, Yellow Barn, ‘At the World’s Edge’ Festival, the ‘Mendelssohn on Mull’ Festival, and ‘Musique à Marsac’ in France. 

London-born cellist Ken Ichinose was appointed Associate Principal Cello of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in 2014. He is the cellist of the Ghost Piano Trio and also performs regularly with contemporary music group Stroma. Ken returns to London regularly to perform chamber music with his siblings and work with orchestras such as the London Symphony and Royal Philharmonic. Before moving to New Zealand, Ken was a founding member of the Galitzin Quartet with whom he performed for ten years, completing major tours in the UK, Germany, France, Portugal and Holland.